


Snakes for the Memories

by FrostonMaples



Category: Forever (TV 2014), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Mystery, Some Humor, Teamwork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:55:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23786683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostonMaples/pseuds/FrostonMaples
Summary: When a case takes a strange turn, the detectives of the 11th precinct turn to the Avengers for assistance.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 53





	Snakes for the Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Please note: this is set before the events of Civil War.

"Central Park always looks so different when there's fresh snow," Detective Mike Hanson observed as he climbed out of his car.

"Getting romantic in your old age?" Jo Martinez teased her partner as she got out of the car as well.

"I said different: not beautiful, not fluffy, not glorious with romantic splendour," Mike growled in reply, rolling his eyes. "All this white stuff's going to make our job a lot harder. You know, the dead body? The reason we were called here?"

"True," Jo sighed in agreement, ruefully admiring the rare spectacle. Snow in New York seldom stayed white for long… _Sean's hazel eyes twinkled as he grinned. No lawyer should look so much like a little boy, she thought as she looked at him. "C'mon, the snow's perfect. Let's go make snow angels in the park together…"_

Firmly, she shut down the memory and walked with her partner to one of the uniforms guarding the perimeter of the crime scene as CSU put up the yellow crime scene tape. Nearby, a uniformed officer was interviewing a pair of shaken pedestrians who gesticulated wildly as they spoke.

"Hey, Simmons, what've we got here?" Mike asked.

"We've got a weird one," Simmons answered. "Not just a body, but a big hole."

"A hole?" Jo asked, eyebrows raised.

"You'll see. Not just a little pothole, either," was the reply. "Where the crowd is, about ten yards ahead."

"What's the big deal?" Mike grumbled as they walked along the unshovelled path. "The perp probably started to dig a grave, panicked when someone came along and left the body and a hole behind-"

"Maybe it was something more than that," Jo interrupted him, eyes wide. "That's not a start on a grave."

Partially frozen dirt had been churned up, forming a bank around a hole of about five feet in diameter. Stepping closer, the detectives could see that the hole went straight down: without moving closer, Jo couldn't tell how far. The body of a woman lay nearby.

One of the officers on the scene walked over to greet them. "Good morning. Glad to see you," he said with a welcoming nod after they identified themselves. "Normally, I'd be able to give you a better read on the situation, but this is way too weird for me to figure out. Even the body's weird."

"What do you mean?" Jo asked, stepping closer.

"Check out what she's wearing," was the snorted reply. "Then tell me this is a typical scene."

The detectives crouched down in the snow next to the woman's body. She lay flat on her back, staring up sightlessly through the light layer of snow on her face. Her long coat had fallen open, revealing a flowery sarong and a battered delicate orchid lei.

"Not exactly typical attire for New York at the best of times, but especially during the winter..." Mike shook his head as he looked at her feet. "She's only wearing sandals. Who the hell wears sandals, without even socks, in this weather?"

"I'll search the ground around here, there may be something under the snow to explain why she's here," Jo said. "You see if you can figure out the deal with that hole. It's definitely not an attempt at a grave."

"Right." Mike stood, dusting snow off his knees. "Go check out the strangest case of landscaping to hit Central Park since the filling in of the Croton Lower Reservoir." He looked up at the sound of another vehicle parking nearby. "I see your other partner's finally got here."

"Mike," she admonished him with a frown. "He's here because it's his job."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," the burly detective muttered. "And then he'll have some deep, mysterious insight that'll solve the case without any real detective work being done to build the case-"

"Enough," Jo said, losing patience. "We solve cases. Whether it's with or without him doesn't matter, as long as we catch the guilty." She turned back to the corpse, carefully examining it as closely as possible without touching it.

"Sure," Mike said shortly, not willing to get into a public argument. He scowled distrustfully at the new arrivals as he stalked over to join the crowd of officers searching the ground around the hole.

"I don't care what you say, it's freezing!" Lucas Wahl complained as he climbed out of the ME's van.

"You cannot even see your breath," Dr. Henry Morgan observed as he walked around to the rear of the van to pull out his instrument case. "That means it's above 45 degrees out here. Hardly the coldest temperature you'll encounter during a New York winter -"

"'Bout time you got here, doc," the constable grumbled as he lifted the crime scene tape for them. "Sooner you clear this, the sooner I can leave this hole to the investigators and warm up at the station."

"It's not that cold," Henry huffed at Lucas' triumphant expression. "Usually New York is at least five degrees colder this close to Christmas." He paused as the officers' words fully sank in. "Hole - ?"

"Finally!" Jo rose from where she'd been kneeling beside the body of a woman in the snow. "Please take charge of the body and clear it as soon as possible -"

"Jo, could you check under the snow between the hole and the body for prints for me?" Hanson called over to his partner as he gently brushed snow away from the edge of the large hole in the middle of the path beside the woman's body.

"Wow, that's a big hole," Lucas said, stepping closer to stare.

"Brilliant deduction," Hanson growled, rubbing the clinging snow off his gloved hands. "Must be ready to take your detective exams this week."

"Hey, chill," Lucas held up his hands in surrender. The detective glared back at him before crouching down again to carefully push snow back from the edge of the pit. The assistant examiner turned to Jo. "Where'd the hole come from?"

She shrugged. "No idea yet. It goes down about ten feet and then bends. Looks like someone dug a tunnel for some reason we don't know yet."

"There's also the matter of a dead woman next to the hole." Henry reminded his assistant with a _look_. "She is _our_ part of the investigation. We need to do our work so these officers can do their part."

"Sorry doc," Lucas said contritely, turning back to the body. He did a double take when he saw the body. "Oh my!"

"Do you know this woman?" Henry asked.

"She looks like Lillian Kahanaui," Lucas said.

"Who?" Henry asked as he pulled a wallet out of the purse beside the body.

"She's a singer at The Golden Mo'o," Lucas explained.

"Why's there a place with a name about golden cows?" Jo asked, overhearing their conversation as she walked back to join them.

"The Golden Mo'o, with an apostrophe," Lucas explained. "It's a tiki bar over on 96th Street. Mo'o is Polynesian for snake."

"You're right, Lucas," Henry said, pulling a driver's licence out of the woman's wallet. "Lillian Marie Kahanaui. There's also a business card in here from the The Golden Mo'o."

"This is horrible," the assistant moaned. "She's so talented. Her version of _Tiny Bubbles_ is a classic. When I was there last week they were announcing the release of her first album."

"Very unfortunate," Jo agreed, "but why is she here? Judging by the clothes, she came directly here from work."

"I'll continue my examination and let you know if I find any clues," Henry promised absentmindedly as he examined the victim's neck with a magnifier. He was so thoroughly engrossed in his work that he didn't notice a commotion at the perimeter of the crime scene.

"Hey, get back behind the tape!" One of the uniformed officers intercepted a man and woman in animal control uniforms."This is a crime scene. No dog to catch here."

"What's going on, Simmons?" Mike asked the officer, leaving his examination of the hole.

"We're here to do our job, just like you," the man with animal control said, holding up a long steel rod with a hook on the end, while the woman waved a large net. "We got a call about a big snake in the park. Anyone here seen one? Or will we just leave it here for youse guys to deal with when it shows up?"

The detective sighed and raised the crime scene tape to let them pass. "Don't touch anything, and no mouthing off to the press. Stay away from the hole."

"Yeah, yeah," the woman said, rolling her eyes. "We ain't paid enough to deal with humans and I'm not a freakin' miner. You guys can play in the dirt all you want without us. And the last time the press paid attention to our very important job, they told everyone we was murdering squirrels and puppies. We don't talk to those jerks any more."

"So, anyone see this big snake we're supposed to catch?" her partner asked, scanning the ground. "I don't see any squiggle marks on the ground like we usually see when there's one around. All this snow, you'd think there'd be marks."

"Snake?" Lucas asked nervously.

"Yeah," the woman said, carefully holding her net up to prevent it from dragging. "And it shouldn't be moving too fast in all this cold." They both started scanning the ground, ignoring the rest of the investigation while searching for their prey.

"Any idea what killed her yet?" Jo asked Henry, crouching down beside him.

"My preliminary examination leads me to conclude that this poor woman died from traumatic rhabdomyolysis," Henry said as he gently lifted the dead woman's arm. "I'll know better after doing an X-ray, but it appears that she has been crushed."

"Crushed?" The detective raised her eyebrows. She did a quick scan of the area. "I don't see anything here that looks like it could crush a grown woman. Was she dumped here?"

"Like I said, I'll know better once I get her back to the morgue and do a more thorough examination. Before I can do that, though, I need to complete on scene protocols." He sighed and called over to his distracted assistant. "Lucas, I need you to finish photographing the body in situ before I can finish my preliminary examination."

"Sorry Dr. Morgan," Lucas said, forcing his attention away from the investigation of the hole and the animal control officers. He carefully shuffled to the side to photograph a new angle of the body, only to feel something brush against his foot under the snow. He crouched down, carefully brushing back the snow. "What the -?" Puzzled, he called over to Henry, "Hey Doc, Detective, you might want to take a look at this. What is it?"

Henry stepped around the body to crouch next to Lucas in the snow. Reaching out carefully with a gloved hand, he lifted up a corner of the large piece of translucent filmy substance. With a thoughtful frown, he looked closely. "It resembles a shedded snakeskin."

"Can't be, doc," Lucas protested as he gently brushed away the snow. "That part you have looks to be about four feet wide, and I haven't uncovered the other end of it yet…" He shuffled over as he crouched, pushing the snow out of the way as he searched for the end. After six feet, he stopped. "I still haven't reached the end, and it looks like it's not getting any narrower over here. Don't get snakes get thinner when you get to the back end?" His foot nudged something else under the snow cover and he pulled out a man's boot. "What the heck? Why would someone take off one boot in this weather?" Another step back had him stumble and fall over what had appeared to be a large pile of snow. "And just to add to the weird factor, there's some kind of funky case here." He brushed it off, frowning. "It looks like some kind of specimen case or something. It's all metal, has a heavy duty lock on it, but it's open now." He leaned to the side so Jo could take a closer look. "Looks like it was for carrying something packed in a glass container, with electronics attached. Maybe to monitor whatever was in the glass?"

Jo frowned thoughtfully as she mentally mapped the scene. She crouched down and gently brushed a bit of snow aside to find a large piece of broken glass. "Good chance this was in the case, but what did it hold? Who did the boot belong to, and what's the skin thing you found? And how's all of this connected to our dead woman?"

"Excuse me, Officer…" Henry peered across at the animal control officers. "Officer Spencer. Could you take a look at this? It might have something to do with the snake that was reported to you."

The man and his partner carefully stepped around the crime scene to look over the medical examiner's shoulder. "Geez, I dunno," he said, scratching his head. "Might be a snake skin. Whaddaya think, Collins?" he asked his colleague.

"Can't be," she protested, leaning closer. "It's way too big. There's no snakes that big, and look at the scales - they're huge. Gotta be from some movie crew shootin' in the park or something -"

A loud, rumbling hiss from the hole interrupted her. Everyone stopped and stared wide eyed at the hole.

Lucas looked at the boot in his hand and gulped. "You're going to need a bigger net."

* * *

Mike Hanson was rarely intimidated, but it wasn't every day you shook hands with a living legend surrounded by other superheroes. He only recognized Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and War Machine, but he didn't doubt that the other man and woman were worthy of being Avengers as well if they were with the Captain. He hid his awe behind a brusque, "Thanks for coming."

Captain America smiled reassuringly as he shook the detective's hand. "We're always willing to lend the NYPD a hand. Your captain said this was a very unusual situation?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Hanson snorted. "We have a body that our doc says was crushed to death, but there's nothing on top of her, and there's a frickin' huge hole in the ground near her. We know when we need to call in the experts in weird."

"A hole?" One of the other Avengers, the one the media called Hawkeye, raised his eyebrows.

"You'll see," the detective said. "Not just a botched try to bury her. It looks like someone or something dug a tunnel."

"Something?" The hero Mike couldn't identify tilted his head questioningly.

"You'll see," Mike said. "It's weird, even for New York."

"We'll need to clear the area," the Black Widow said.

"Our ME is just about finished clearing the scene for removing the body," the female detective said, stepping forward from the team of officers who had paused their work examining the scene. "Do you want to take a look before it's gone? I can ask them to wait a few minutes," she offered.

"Yeah, let's take a quick look," Hawkeye said. "Best to see everything as you found it."

"Henry, wait a minute," she called over to the ME. "These people want to examine the scene with the body in place."

The doctor turned his head and nodded in acknowledgement even as he continued working. As the Avengers stepped closer, he said over his shoulder, "I've completed my preliminary examination. I'll be out of here as soon as you're finished."

Captain America paused and did a double take. "Dr. Morgan?"

* * *

"Dr. Morgan?"

Startled, Henry paused to look up from his examination of the body. Recognition flashed across his face when he saw Captain America, followed by a swiftly suppressed wide-eyed reaction as he rose to his feet.

"Captain America, it's a pleasure to meet you." He pulled off a glove as he stepped forward to shake the hero's hand, an expression of polite confusion on his face. "How'd you know my name?"

"I saw you during the war. The Howling Commandos and I encountered your unit in northern France during a firefight after blowing up a Hydra base. How's it possible for you to be here, the same?"

Henry's confused expression cleared. "Ah, I see. That was my grandfather you met. I've been told I have an extremely strong resemblance to him." He paused thoughtfully. "Now that I think about it, he did tell me the story about the time he met you…"

"I see," the captain said uncertainly. He frowned as he looked closely at Henry. "The resemblance is uncanny…"

"Actually, it's extremely ironic that I'm meeting you under these circumstances," Henry continued, deftly shifting the conversation to a safer topic. "Seeing you has jogged my memory about his story, and there's something of your meeting so long ago that may be relevant to this situation." He turned to his assistant. "Lucas, please show these folks the skin you found."

"Officer Collins said it sorta looks like a huge snake skin," Lucas said nervously, holding up a corner of the skin. "This isn't real, right? I mean, it's way too big, right?"

"If my grandfather's description was in any way accurate," Henry said, "I would think this may have some resemblance to a skin that a creature like the one you and he encountered would produce."

"Creature?" Lucas' eyes opened wide as he gulped.

The hero's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "You may be right. The resemblance is uncanny." He turned to the red haired woman beside him. "It's too similar for it to be a total coincidence. Best that we treat this as a potential Hydra product: capture if possible for studying, otherwise destroy it." She nodded and turned to the rest of the team to confer with them as the captain turned back to the ME, his assistant and the detectives. "Thank you doctor. It's now going to be much easier to make our plans." Memory stirred of a distant time, before the cold ice...

* * *

_"I can still walk, you know," Peggy Carter snarled at Timothy 'Dum Dum' Dugan as he scooped her up off her feet to sling her over his shoulder._

_"Yep, I know," he agreed cheerfully. "Right now, though, we need to run. Hard for you to do that with a hole in your shoulder." He picked up his pace to a steady jog. "Cap ordered us to get outta here so he and Barnes can deal with the Hydra goons and their critter after they take out the base without having to worry about us getting caught in the crossfire."_

_"I'm sure I could've tried running," was the breathless reply as his shoulder dug into her ribcage. "This is incredibly uncomfortable."_

_"Believe me, that's the least of our worries," he replied. He slowed his stride and cautiously whistled, waiting for an all clear on the path ahead._

_"Clear!" Dernier called back to them._

_"Good," Dugan puffed as he picked up the pace again. "Any help in the area?"_

_"Falsworth reached a nearby American unit on the radio," was the reply as Dernier fell into step with him. "They're only about a mile ahead."_

_"Great," Dugan grumbled. "Any sign of Cap and Barnes yet?"_

_"Not yet, but knowing them, they won't be too long," Dernier shrugged. The boom of a distant explosion rumbled over the end of his sentence. "Sounds like they should be joining us shortly."_

_"Party wouldn't be the same without 'em," Dugan agreed._

_"Um, Mr. Dugan, Mr. Dernier," Peggy interrupted as she reached down to fumble for Dugan's pistol. "I think we need to run faster."_

_Dernier looked back over his shoulder. "Mon Dieu! Qu'est-ce que c'est?" He drew his sidearm, but continued running. "She's right, Dum Dum. Can you go faster?"_

_"Of course," Dugan growled. "Just hope those guys catch up soon. She's not as light as she looks, I can't do this forever."_

_"I heard that." The voice over his shoulder was irritated as he expected, but without her usual energy. "You'll pay…for that…when I don't have to shoot a giant snake while bouncing on your shoulder."_

_"Keep running," Dernier shouted as he stopped and turned back. "I'll slow it down. You shouldn't have too much farther to go. " He casually pulled out a grenade and lobbed it at the creature. It didn't pause as it slithered over the new pothole, but it did slow down as he followed up with a hail of bullets. "Eh bien,_ _laid, essayez haussant cette off!" He stepped off onto a branching path, shooting as he taunted it. It hesitated, visibly torn between following Dugan and Peggy and dealing with its new French tormentor._

_"He's distracted it," Peggy reported. "It's stopping…" She hissed with pain as he broke stride to step over a branch, then sighed. "And now it's following us again."_

_"Almost there," Dugan huffed to his passenger._

_"I don't know where Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes are, but now would be a good time for them to show up," Peggy said as she snapped off another shot. "This thing's ignoring Lt. Dernier, and bullets don't seem to affect it very much." Her voice wavered and slurred, and he wondered if the wet spot on his shoulder and back was only sweat. "It's very determined to follow us. Maybe it can smell blood?"_

_"Stay with me, Peggy," he gasped. "Just about there-"_

_"We've gotcha covered." The stranger's voice seemed to come from nowhere, making Peggy flinch and wildly raise the pistol as Dugan spun to face the shadowy figure. "Easy there, you guys called us for help."_

_"I told ya not to just jump out from behind the tree, idiot," another voice said from behind them. Another officer stepped onto the path and nodded at them. "Our camp's about fifty feet that way," he said, pointing. "We'll slow the beastie down." He cocked his shotgun as he rolled his shoulders. "Keep going. We've got this."_

_Dugan resumed running in the direction indicated. As he proceeded, Morita and Jones ran past with other soldiers. Behind him, he heard one of the new guys say, "Holy cow, you guys weren't kidding!"_

_"Ehh, not as big as that prototype tank we took out last week,"_ _said Morita_ _. "Scalier, but at least it doesn't shoot back."_

_"Hang on Peg, camp's right ahead, I see it." Dugan almost stumbled as he reached the clearing in front of a tent. "You guys got a doctor?" he called out,_ _wheezing_ _._

_"Over here!" A tall, slim man with wavy brown hair ran over and reached up to help Dugan ease Peggy off his shoulder. "Take it easy, I've got her." Gently, they lowered her to the ground._

_"You're a medic?" Peggy asked hazily, looking up at the man. "British?"_

_"Temporarily attached to an American unit," he replied as he gently pulled her shirt away from her shoulder. "Lt. Henry Morgan, at your service."_

_"Agent Carter-"_

_"Don't move your arm, Agent Carter," he ordered as he carefully sponged blood away from the bullet holes_ _in the back_ _her_ _right_ _shoulder. "Any motion could make the bullets move around, making it harder to remove them. It's bad enough you've been bouncing around on a man's shoulder for who knows how long-"_

_"Better that than snake food," Dugan interrupted._

_Morgan paused, eyebrows raised. "I'll take your word on that."_

_"Really, Doc," Dugan said, listening to the not so distant gunfire_ _as he regained his breath_ _. He reloaded his shotgun and pistol, and turned to face the path he had taken. "You might want to hurry." The giant snake slithered into sight, ignoring the bullets impacting its hide from Morita, Jones and Morgan's comrades_ _as they ran alongside_ _._

_"Now'd be a really good time for Cap to show up," Dugan growled, raising his shotgun. He held his fire, waiting for the creature to get closer... and a spinning red, white and blue blur slammed into the giant head, knocking it into the ground nose-first to plow a wave of dirt over Dugan._

_"Sorry we're late!"_ _Dugan saw Doctor Morgan's eyes widen in awe_ _as Captain America ran onto the scene to snatch up his shield as it bounced back to him. "There were a few more Hydra troops to deal with than we thought, but we knew you'd have things well in hand here."_

_"Um, yeah, right," Dugan called out to him. "We_ _were taking_ _care of this thing for you, but thought you might like to finish it off for yourself."_

_"I've got this!" Sergent 'Bucky' Barnes darted in front of the behemoth and tossed a grenade into the huge mouth as it unburied its nose. "Fire in the hole!" Lt. Morgan leaned over his patient as Dugan crouched in front of them, turning his face away._

_The explosion was impressive. Apparently,_ _t_ _he inside of the mouth didn't have the toughness the outer hide had: the entire head was destroyed, flinging skin, bone, blood and brains over the entire area, much to everyone's disgust._

_"What's the problem?" Barnes protested. "It worked. A bit messy, but it worked."_

_"A bit messy?" Dugan growled. "If I can't get this gunk off my hat, I'll take it out've your hide."_

_"I'm sure it'll clean up," the captain said, striding over. He crouched down beside Lt. Morgan and Peggy. "Doctor, will she be all right?"_

_"She'll be fine," Peggy snapped, wincing as she inadvertently shifted her shoulder. "Just bandage it up and I'll be fine."_

_"Bullets are serious business, young lady,"_ _the lieutenant said firmly. "I need to remove those bullets as soon as possible before 'bandaging it up'." He glared back at her, refusing to back down. "It's serious enough that if you're lucky, the only long term affect will be to have some scars on your shoulder for the rest of your life. If you're unlucky, and don't let me do my job thoroughly..."_

_He didn't finish his sentence, and she looked away, scowling. "Fine. We'll do this your way," she growled._

_"I thought you might reconsider," the medic said with a small smile. He looked up at the hero. "Help me get her on a cot so I can take care of this properly."_

_"Sounds like you have a doctor's appointment whether you want it or not Peggy," the captain said with a smile. "Thank you for taking care of her, Doctor...?"_

_"Doctor Henry Morgan," the lieutenant said with a polite smile. "Pleased to meet you, Captain. Now if you could help me..."_

* * *

"So, has anyone gone down there yet to check it out?" Steve asked.

The nearest officer snorted. "You kiddin'? If Doc's guess about the size of that thing's accurate, that's waaay above our pay grade."

"Wish it was above ours," Sam Wilson said, eyeing the hole gloomily. "At least it isn't slimy."

A hiss rumbled out of the hole.

"Why'd it have to be a snake?" Clint grumbled. "I hate snakes."

Natasha elbowed him in the ribs as she rolled her eyes. "At least it isn't a pit full of them. Compared to Cairo, this should be simple."

"Who says there aren't a bunch down there?"

"The witnesses only saw one," Detective Hanson said to the captain.

"Wanda, can you sense anything from it?" Steve turned to the youngest Avenger.

"I'll try," she said, nodding. She took a deep breath and her eyes glowed crimson as a small whisp of red flowed from her hand down the hole. After a pause, she said, "There's only one," the corner of her mouth twitched as she glanced sideways at Hawkeye, "and it's burrowing in that direction." She pointed northwest. She frowned she she made a slight motion with her hand. "I can only sense it: it's too foreign for me to control it."

Jo Martinez frowned thoughtfully as she gazed in the direction Wanda was pointing. "Not too far until it's out of the park."

Hanson raised his eyebrows as he looked along her line of sight. "That's pretty much a direct line to 103rd Street. There's a subway station there…"

"A subway station would be warm compared to the rest of the ground at this time of the year," Henry observed.

"Detective, I think it'd be a good idea to evacuate the station," Steve suggested. Hanson nodded in agreement and pulled out his phone to have dispatch send units to the station and update Lieutenant Reece on the situation. "Natasha, I'd like you to take Colonel Rhodes and Wanda with you to secure the station." The spy nodded in acknowledgement and beckoned to the other two to join her as she hastily left the scene to find the subway station.

"What's the plan, Cap?" Clint asked.

"Clint, you and Sam are with me. We're going down there after that thing."

"You want me to go down there with you?" Sam asked sceptically.

"Yep," Steve replied. "We're going to keep it moving forward. It can't be allowed to double back here to the park or to go off somewhere to hibernate until the warm weather comes back."

"Next time I go with Vision to help Stark and Banner with satellite problems," Sam grumbled as he pulled out his pistol. "Does anyone else here see the irony of getting the guy who flies to go underground into a tunnel?"

"You can be our canary," Clint offered. "Just in case the thing emits gas."

"Shut up."

* * *

"Our best option is to contain and remove this thing," Natasha explained to Wanda and Rhodey. Behind her, three New York transit workers fidgeted nervously, wanting nothing more than to be gone. "Blowing it up or getting into an extended gunfight with it is only a last resort in a setting like this." She gestured at the mostly empty station. "What're your options?"

"I don't believe it," Rhodey shook his head. "You're using this as a training exercise for us?" He eyed his youngest team mate warily.

"Just killing two birds with one stone," their trainer replied with a slight smile. "Nothing wrong with learning on the job." She turned to her other student. "What options do you see, Wanda?"

Wanda nodded and scanned their surroundings. "Use one of the train cars," she suggested. "We block the tunnel so it can only go in the direction of the train car. It'll be too big, there won't be enough room in the tunnel for it to go around the train car, it'll have to try to go through. We seal the front beforehand. When it goes in, we seal the back shut behind it."

"Is a train car strong enough to hold it?"

"Should be," Rhodey said, scanning the train, "even if this critter is bigger than we think." He walked along the length of one of the cars, paused at one of the side doors. "But, just to be on the safe side, I say we leave one of these side doors open a few inches, so our expert with energy batons can reach in to stun it."

Natasha turned to the other member of her team. "What do you think Wanda?"

"I agree." The youngest member nodded. "I think it's a good plan."

"The last train car would work the best," Rhodey said, looking closely at the visible part of the train. "Have the transit guys uncouple the rest of the train and leave it up there as extra tunnel blockage."

"Why not use the engine car?" Natasha asked, with a slight smile. "We could use the engine to move it."

"It'd be heavier, harder to move later once we take it off the tracks," Wanda explained. "Without the engine, Rhodey can easily push the car to the maintenance yard, and it'll be less weight to be shifted onto whatever we're going to use to transport it." She paused, uncertain. "I would assume we're going to leave it in the train car to transport?"

"The train car would serve as a decent container for transport, and it's likely going to be trashed by the time we finish with it. The transit commission won't be able to restore it," Rhodey agreed. "Also, it won't cost as much, so Pepper'll only moderately freak out when I call her about this."

"Sounds like a plan," Natasha said. "Can either of you detect where the creature is now?"

"It's close," Wanda whispered, her eyes glowing red. She walked down the tunnel about twenty feet before stopping, her hand on the wall. "It should come through here."

"Yeah," Rhodey agreed, touching the wall as well. "I can detect some faint seismic vibrations. Aren't any trains running near here right now, so that should be our critter."

"Let's do it," Natasha said with a nod. She turned to the transit workers. "Get the train in position."

"Yes, ma'am," the supervisor said. He gestured to the other two. "You heard the lady - get to work."

* * *

After they dropped into the tunnel, Steve turned to Clint and Sam. "I'll take the lead, so I can shield us if it turns back."

"Lead on," Clint replied, opening up his bow.

"Yeah, let's get this over with," Sam sighed, cocking his pistol. He eyed the tunnel ahead of them gloomily. "Good thing a flashlight is a standard item when I pack, this is a nasty dark hole. On the bright side, at least this tunnel's tall enough we can stand up."

"It also's a good indication of how big this thing is," Steve pointed out.

"Oh." Sam looked at his pistol, then at the size of the tunnel. "So, how'd you deal with the other snake-thing way back when?"

"We blew it up with a grenade in the mouth," Steve said. "I think that'll have to be a last resort this time. Too much potential collateral damage."

"Right. So, what's the plan?" Clint asked.

"The rest of the team should have a trap for it in the station by now," Steve said. "We just have to keep it moving."

"Great, now I can add snake herder to my resume," Sam grumbled.

* * *

Rhodey watched as the transit crew drove the rest of the train down the tunnel: he was sure they normally didn't move so quickly. One of the microphones in his suit caught some of the crew's chatter - "Can't you make this thing move faster?" "Shut up, Murphy-"

"Can't say I blame those guys," he muttered. He turned to his companions, forced some cheer into his voice. "So, ready for some snake trapping?"

"Of course," Wanda said firmly.

They moved to stand at the front of the empty train car. He eyed his partner warily, aware of Natasha watching them calmly. He cleared his throat nervously. "So kid, you think you can do this?"

She squared her shoulders and nodded. It wasn't until he saw her swallow and her chin quiver that he realized how much of her cool self-assurance was a facade that made him forget just how young she really was.

"Okay," he said reassuringly. "Just like we planned. Pull the edges together."

She nodded and squared her shoulders with a deep breath before raising her hands. Rhodey felt a chill run down his back as red glowed in her eyes and solid metal groaned, bending to her will. It took every ounce of his self control to not show his trepidation on his face when she finished and turned to him. The power it took to bend steel like that…

"Your turn," she said with a small, proud smile, unaware of his apprehensive thoughts.

He shook off the gloomy train of thought - _deal with this later_ \- flipped down his faceplate, and raised one gauntlet with the plasma torch ready. "Better step back," he warned her gruffly. "Things are dirty down here, you never know what will catch fire." He was pleased to see her follow his advice, as well as raising her hand to shield her eyes. It was a quick job, less than ten minutes.

He stepped back, scanning his work for any gaps or weaknesses. "Once this cools, it'll be solid," he proclaimed, turning to Natasha.

The Black Widow smiled. "Let's get to our places and wait for our quarry."

* * *

"There it is," Steve whispered, pointing. Sam squinted in the dim lighting, finally saw what could only be a reptilian tail about ten feet ahead.

"Great," Clint said. "How do you want to do this?"

Steve thought for a minute. "If it's like the one I encountered during the war, bullets won't have much of an effect."

"All we have to do is prod it enough to keep it moving ahead," Sam said. "Will bullets at least irritate it? We can't use explosives without probably burying ourselves."

"Maybe," Steve said reluctantly. "But-"

"Ricochets will be as bad as explosives," Clint said. "I would try an electric shock to give it a good goosing." He reached back to his quiver and pulled out an arrow. "This should be nice and uncomfortable for it. Here's hoping it'll move forward and not double back on us." The arrow flew past the tail into the darkness: within seconds, an electrical charge lit up the murkiness to show the mass of scales blocking the tunnel.

"Oh crap," Sam said. "I knew this thing was big, but this…"

A savage hiss filled the tunnel as the tail twitched from the electrical shock. "The discharge won't last for very long," Clint cautioned, "and with something this big, it's likely not going to do anything more than piss it off." The electrical blue glow died as he spoke.

"That's okay," Steve said, stepping forward. "As long as it's easier for it to go forward rather than back." He pulled his shield off his back and swung it down hard on the tail: another loud hiss echoed in the tunnel, though there was no visible damage. Sam followed up with a taser in the same spot as the shield strike: once again, there was no visible damage, but the hissing continued. The scaly body advanced down the tunnel away from them.

"Hey, looks like Kaa doesn't like being shocked," Sam gloated.

"Follow it and make sure it keeps moving," Steve ordered. "You have another one of those shock arrows if we need one, Clint?"

"Definitely, Captain," the archer replied. He smirked at Sam. "I guess I can add chief snake herder to my resumé now."

* * *

The wall quivered in the dim tunnel lighting.

"Here it comes," Rhodey said, flipping his faceplate down. He called down the tunnel to where Natasha waited underneath the mutilated subway car, "Any minute now!" Looking down at his companion, he was pleased to see her calmly flexing her hands with no sign of her earlier nerves. "Better put your earplugs in, kid. It's about to get really loud in here."

"Way ahead of you," she said with a small, shy smile at him. "I remember the last time you fired near me indoors."

The wall violently shook, then exploded into the tunnel as a massive snake head pushed through. Wanda's eyes glowed red as she raised a red wall to block the tunnel behind Rhodey.

"Whoah, that's a big snake." The shoulder minigun trained itself on the massive reptile as War Machine raised his hands, repulsors ready. The snake slithered more of its body into the tunnel as it turned to face the threat, opening its mouth to reveal large fangs as it prepared to strike. "Oh no you don't, scaly!"

The repulser blasts hit the thing on the nose, making it recoil with a savage hiss. It raised its head, preparing to strike, only to have its snout forced to the side by the physical impact of a round of shots from the shoulder minigun. The giant reptile shook off the hit, then stopped to look back behind itself with another hiss. It flowed into the tunnel, its entire body finally visible, with its tail covered with dancing light traces of an electrical charge.

Rhodey fired his repulsers again as the Steve, Sam and Clint joined him. The Captain's shield struck the snake again, followed by another arrow and some gunfire. Definitely uncomfortable, the giant reptile retreated, slithering onto the trap. Natasha slid out from her spot underneath the train car as Rhodey and Wanda rushed forward.

"Okay kid, pull those edges together, just like before," Rhodey ordered.

Wanda nodded, frowning in concentration. With a graceful wave of her hands, the back end of the car groaned, the walls bending to meet tightly. "How's that?" she asked.

"Perfect!" he said, turning the plasma torch in his right gauntlet back on. "Give me a minute..." He ran the flame over the rough seam, melting the edges together. "Done! Now, Natasha!" Rhodey shouted.

"Everybody clear!" the former spy called out. Reaching in cautiously with her batons, she jabbed the creature hard. The electrical current danced across its hide as it squealed and writhed with pain until it went limp. She carefully tapped it again, lightly. There was no reaction. "I think that did it."

"Yeah!" Rhodey whooped. He flipped up his faceplate and turned to his youngest team member with a grin, holding up his left hand. "Whatta team!"

Wanda's shy smile was proud and happy as she reached up to slap his gauntlet in a triumphant high five. Her smile got brighter as Hawkeye clapped her on the shoulder and Sam gave her a grin.

Steve watched the byplay with paternal pride. "Well done, everyone. We can definitely count this as a success. Rhodey, if you can push this through the tunnel to the rail yard, I'll have people from Stark Industries waiting to take it away. Everyone else, get ready to return to base."

"What a mess," Rhodey said, shaking his head as he started pushing the train car. "I'll meet you guys back at HQ. Have a brew waiting for me." With a groan, the battered train car started rolling down the tracks and was soon out of sight.

"Thank god," Sam said, rolling his eyes. "I can't wait to get back out into open air. That was one ugly ass reptile."

"It's just a snake on a train. Could've been worse." Hawkeye shrugged.

"What do you mean? We may have stopped the thing from killing more people and NYPD may have had one of their more bizarre murder cases solved, but Tony will still have to at least buy the train car and pay for the station damage. Plus there's a tunnel from here to Central Park to be filled in. Never mind now we have to figure out what to do with that…snake thing. Short of it running loose in New York, how could it be worse?"

"It could've been on a plane," Natasha said, smirking.

"I'm just glad Fury isn't around to hear about this. The man seriously hates snakes." Hawkeye said, shaking his head.

* * *

"Detective Martinez, Detective Hanson, how are things going with the case?" The two detectives looked up to see Henry and Lucas at the door.

"Have you been able to find out why Lillian Kahanaui was in the park, and why someone killed her?" Lucas asked eagerly.

"We interviewed the employees at the Golden Mo'o this afternoon," Jo started. "It sounds like there were a few things that Lillian wasn't happy with going on behind the scenes with the owner."

"Yeah, they told us she was very upset with him last night," Mike said, shrugging. "One of the waiters said she thought the owner was using her record launch party at the club as a cover for selling drugs, or at least something illegal."

"Which is very strange," Jo said, frowning. "I spoke with a couple of people I know on Vice. They say the Golden Mo'o isn't one of the clubs known for dealing. In fact, it's the opposite: my friends said that the area for two blocks around the club is a no go zone for any of the usual street deals, and no one will talk about how that happened. There's might be a bit of the usual small stuff sold between patrons, but none of the dealers known to Vice have anything to do with the place."

Mike picked up the story. "The word is that the owner of the Golden Mo'o, a gentleman named Gregory Kekoa had meetings with the Luciano clan and the local Triad branch, but it was to hire them for protection."

"Extortion?" Henry asked.

"Nope, according to my buddies in Organized Crime, no one ever messed with Mr. Kekoa. He contacted them for the work. All indications are he was working for someone else that has them scared stiff." He shook his head. "No one has seen him since last night."

"According to one of the waiters at the club, Lillian was upset and went to find Mr. Kekoa in a restricted area of the club," Jo continued the story. "None of the staff are allowed in this certain area, apparently. She came out of there with the case, grabbed her coat and ran out of the club. A few minutes later, Kekoa ran after her, and that's the last the staff saw of either of them."

"After that, the next people who saw them were the witnesses we had in the park," Mike said, referring to his notes. "Mary and Douglas Roberts were out for a walk and saw them arguing. The argument escalated to the point where the witnesses had pulled out their phones to call police when they started to physically fight over the case. Kekoa and Kahanaui were both pulling on it, it fell, it busted open when it hit the ground, and the witnesses heard some glass break. They said he was screaming at her about not locking the case, the buyer was going to be pissed, that they were screwed, and then, I quote, "a giant snake grew up out of the case and wrapped around both of them."". He shrugged. "Personally, I think our witness couple may have been imbibing a bit too much before they went for their walk, but they were pretty shook up for it to all be drunk hallucinations."

"There's still tons of questions, especially about the restricted area at the club. We're waiting on a search warrant," Jo said with a frown. "It's taking forever for a judge to sign off on one…"

"I have some answers to those questions." Lt. Joanna Reese stalked into the room, bristling with irritation. "Though the answers I got don't really solve anything for us, and just raise more questions." She frowned at the small gathering in front of her. "What I have to say here, stays here. That's a direct order from the Commissioner, the Mayor and the Governor." She took a deep breath, displeasure on her face. "The case is closed. There's not going to be any search warrant. In fact, the case never existed."

She raised her hands to forestall the protests and glowered fiercely at them as she spoke. "I had a phone call from Secretary of State Ross. The...snake is being held in a secure facility and being studied. Apparently, during the initial studies of the creature, they found signs of Mr. Kekoa. Some of his jewelry was caught on the snake's fangs."

"You mean-?" Jo asked, horrified.

"Yes, the snake crushed both Mr. Kekoa and Ms. Kahanaui and then ate him. I would assume that it was startled by the eyewitnesses who made the 911 call and burrowed into the ground before it could eat her too."

"What about the buyer for the snake?"

"Not a word. Apparently, we don't need to know."

"I bet it's tied in with that new bunch of bad guys they're talking about in the news," Lucas guessed. "You know, the one who messed up Washington? Hydra?"

"Considering their history and Captain America's involvement with them, I think that would be a good guess," Henry agreed, frowning.

Silence fell over the room.

"I guess this is the closest we'll get to solving this case," Mike growled. "I hate it when things are left vague."

"We're lucky to have any answers at all," Lt. Reese said. "A friend of mine with Washington PD says this is nothing compared to when SHIELD was still functioning." She sighed in frustration. "Pack it all up. They aren't taking no for an answer." She turned to scowl at Henry and Lucas. "That includes Ms. Kahanaui's body, and all of the autopsy results." She glared around the precinct, anger and frustration in every line. "Move it. The defence department will be here within the hour to take everything."

Henry and Lucas quickly stepped aside as Lt. Reese left. "So much for going for a drink after work," Lucas gulped.

"Yes," Henry agreed. He shrugged. "I guess we better prepare the body for transport." The examiner and his assistant quickly left, discussing the quickest way to prepare the body and the evidence with it for transport as they walked.

"Yeah," Mike growled. "We're going nowhere now, thanks to those paranoid security assholes." He yawned suddenly, slouching at his desk. "I guess I don't need to finish this…"

Jo sighed. There was so many things to do, and she was so tired. Her eyes closed to a red-hued dream: Lillian Kahanaui's murder was solved, a minor thing. She didn't need her old notepad for her next case, she had a new one. Mike had a new one too…

* * *

In all his years as a police officer, Marcus Simmons had never fallen asleep at his desk. No matter how hectic the day, the tedium of paperwork had never before bored him to the point of nodding off.

He rubbed his eyes and shook his head to clear away red-hazed dreams as he focused on the monitor in front of him.

The next report was already on his screen, in front of the report he'd just finished. _Convenience store at Lexington and 135th vandalized. Broken window and graffiti_. He shook his head: a big difference to the other report about finding a dead lady in the park. The park people had been upset about the hole the perps had dug to try to bury the body. Nice to have the case of the dead lady closed already so he could get on with the other waiting reports. Much more important to catch the creeps who trashed a poor old man's store than to dwell on a closed case.

He hit send on the file about the closed case. He didn't notice that it disappeared instead of uploading...

* * *

Tobey Spencer blinked a red haze out of his eyes as he turned to his partner. "Marcia, how big was that snake?"

For a minute, he was worried about the blank, confused expression on her face. "Huh? What?" she asked, dazed.

"For the report, Collins," he said patiently, watching her closely. "How big do you guess that snake was today?"

She shook her head as if to clear it before she answered. "Ten, maybe twelve feet," she said. "Too bad the poor thing died in the snow."

"Yeah, I know," Tobey replied. He tapped the last bit of information for the report in before turning back to her. "How's about -"

The phone line rang before he could finish. "Spencer," he answered. He rolled his eyes at the sound of their supervisor's voice. "Yes sir, we just finished our report about the stuff in the park. If the cops need a copy, it's ready to go." He shook his head as he hung up. "Paper pushers and bureaucrats'll be the death of me yet."

He turned back to Collins as he hit 'send', so he didn't see the file vanish off the screen. "As I was saying, how's about we go get a beer? More interesting than hanging around here."

* * *

Lt. Joanna Reese scowled at the report on her monitor. Too many unanswered questions, she thought. _Maybe Lucas is right_ , she thought. Maybe this all tied in with that Hydra organization that had been in the news, she thought as the memory of falling tricarriers on the news hazed with red...

The last tint of red faded from her vision as relief filled her mind. Death by snake was a weird one, even by New York standards, but at least there weren't any loose ends. Case closed. Time to move on to another in the mountain of work in front of her.

She looked down at the report from McKenzie in Vice. _I know some of these perps have something to do with the dead body found yesterday at 11th and 57th,_ she thought. She glanced up at her monitor and hit send to forward the file to both the Captain and the archives, clearing out old, solved business to deal with current, more important matters. "That's done and over with," she muttered to herself. "On to the next crisis."

The file quietly vanished from both her monitor and the system.

* * *

Wanda Maximoff nodded, bit her lip nervously as red mist swirled through the corridors of the 11th precinct at her whispered command. A small tendril drifted to the nearby office for Animal Control. Throughout both buildings, officers, staff and detainees all slowed, waited, listened.

"The murder of Lillian Kahanaui is solved," she whispered. "The case is closed, there's nothing more to do for the case. The hole in the park wasn't important, the parks people have filled it in. The snake was just a big python and animal control took care of it. The case is closed, and unimportant. Your next case is much more important."

She paused as Clint returned from his trip through both of the buildings.

"You got all of it?" Wanda asked.

He held up a bulging duffle bag. "That should be all the hard copies," Clint replied. "Everything should be switched to the versions Stark's people prepped, the Lieutenant's copy to the archives will self destruct in a few days, the body's been removed from the morgue by SI minions disguised as FBI agents." He checked his watch. "Stark's virus should be in place to clear everything about this out of their system. Over the next few days the virus will clear everyone's phones and we'll check for any other notebooks and stuff I might have missed."

She nodded, looking down with a sigh as she bit her lip. "I don't like this," she frowned. "It's too close to making them puppets." She looked down, wringing her hands. "It's wrong. Bad things happen when I do things like this." She looked up at him with haunted eyes.

"Hey, we talked about this," he said, putting a reassuring arm around her shoulder. "It's okay, kid. You're not erasing anything, you're not forcing them to do anything. It's much safer for all of them if the case becomes an uninteresting closed one." He shook his head as he gently squeezed her shoulder. "All of them are the type that'll keep picking away at things if there's loose ends. It's very easy for Hydra to arrange 'accidents' for people like this, and we can't protect them all."

"I know," she said reluctantly. "I was very careful. Unless something very specific and persistent brings it up, it'll be unimportant to them and be forgotten."

"Good," he nodded. "Let's get this back to the labs. We'll follow the lead of New York's finest. Even if they'll never know it."

* * *

"Dr. Morgan."

Henry graciously stood to greet his visitor. "Captain Rogers."

"Please, call me Steve."

"Steve," the doctor said, smiling as he shook the hero's hand. "And please call me Henry."

"Nice place." Steve gazed with wistful nostalgia around the room from the vantage point of the back corner table Henry had secured. The Brooklyn Inn was an old, venerable establishment, with history embedded in its very wood. "I used to walk by this place all the time as a kid, but I was never in it."

"Thank you for meeting with me," Henry said. "I thought we could share stories - I mean, I could tell you the stories my grandfather told me, and you could tell me more about when you met him..."

"Yes, your grandfather," Steve said with a raised eyebrow. "Interesting how you even have the same nervous finger tap, and a cowlick in the exact same spot in your hair he had." Henry nervously cleared his throat and looked down at his brandy. "It's fascinating how some things are hereditary," Steve continued before the doctor could speak, "and how history can…repeat itself."

Henry cleared his throat. "Yes, well, I'm just glad that my grandfather told me his stories about you. I've discovered that what has happened in the past can directly affect the present, whether it be through our own memories or the history of our ancestors."

"Yes, I've learned over the past few years to live in the moment, but the past keeps coming back to me. " Steve's eyes dimmed with memories. With a shake of his head, he put them behind him with a sad smile. He raised his glass to Henry. "To the past...and the present."

"Yes, the past and the present." Henry raised his glass to toast shared history.

**Author's Note:**

> Authors Note: I've been going through my unfinished items on my hard drive, and decided to complete this. I originally started this waaay back, just after the Winter Soldier movie, for an exchange on the Beta Branch. Unfortunately, it was during the attempt to write this that I had a number of things come crashing down, and I've been unable to complete many creative projects since.


End file.
